Wednesday, September 21, 2005

PSA: Mad Dad, The Trial

The mad dad of Lexington, David Parker, starts his jury trial in Concord District Court today. We're betting that this will take three days, one for selection, one or less for trial and a fraction of one for deliberations.

The Article 8 folk like to play for high theater, but this is pretty simple. It is amusing that he and his lawyer expect to be able to sway adults on his misdemeanor charge.

In terms of civil disobedience, this is small beer. He refused to leave his kindergartener's school for hours after he didn't get what he wanted – unprecedented say-so over school discussions he didn't like. Police urged him to go, and then arrested him when he refused repeatedly.

It is simple. It is civil disobedience and he needs to pay the (tiny) price. It is dumb and wasteful for him to drag the simple protest-cost case through the courts. That court couldn't force the schools to change their rules and go beyond public law to suit him, even if it chose to do so.

You read it here. Guilty. Bang. Pay up and shut up.

We briefly considered biking up there today. The sky is as sunny as Parker is dour. However, the case has gotten pretty boring. It's like a pimple that pops up again.